Sunday, December 12, 2004

More and more people are, and will be, finding themselves at the point of not needing to work in the traditional go somewhere for 40 hours+ per week job. What will people do with their time when there is no longer the economic imperative to work? Some will continue to work, work may be more about status and achievement. Some will pursue new projects, competing in other venues for status, fun, belongingness and achievement such as sports and art. Others will pursue innovation and continuing to ask and answer humanity's big questions. Some segment will pursue leisure in varying degrees of activeness.

To some schooled in the paradigm of the recently traditional world, freedom is slavery. Many people are afraid to retire because they don't know what to do with their time, or deeper, they don't know who to be. Identity that was defined by association to the workplace needs to be redefined in empowering new ways. This is not just the condition for people reaching retirement age but for anyone probing their life, trying to find out what they really want to do or be in their life, or others that find they don't need to take up the vast majority of their waking hours with work.

There will be a need for more fulfilling edu-fun projects, especially where people can compete, garner status, achieve, learn and feel belongingness. More people are becoming lifelong learners, some for interest and some for exigency and the trend will continue. There will be a need for value-sorting, personality/activity match tools and services. More venues for self-expression and creativity in all forms will flower.